I have seen more than one wrench or socket snap when doing this, and the bits will go flying like bullets.
The sharp eyed reader will notice I am actually using 'impact sockets' for this job, which are designed to take shock loads associated with either my method or an impact wrench.
This is not a substitute for eye protection which Kevin mentions above, of course. Eye wear is really cheap. Eyes arent.
Jezzz, I have been thinking about those snaps you posted of your trailer.
I'm not sure i would be game to do the same if it was mine. Looks pretty rough.
But I have learnt something....again.....so thanks.
New Zealanders call that footwear 'Jandals', (but in an industrial situation 'Japanese Saftey Boots'), but the Aussies call them thongs 'Thongs', which is a really interesting name.
We have visitors from your country and Europe, and the standing joke is, when I am sorting out the footwear at the back door (before we go out), I will say something like
"you going to wear your thongs today dar'l?" The looks passed between the visitors is interesting. Then they work it out.....and its ok. Works a treat every time.
2) Nut blaster or whatever its called is supposed to be better than liquid wrench although I always used liquid wrench.
3) I have heard that WD 40 really is not a rust preventative. More of a water remover or something and that any kind of oil or grease is better to prevent rust.
4) a thong by any other name would still smell as ... never mind.
The classic screw that an impact driver works perfectly is the locator screw holding on most brake discs to the wheel hub on cars nowadays. Its usually a phillips (slotted cross) screw but guaranteed to be rusted and frozen in place.
Bang, bang bang and its out....
1/2 your apparent age, Scott ......
PS - wake up, your sleeping through your daughters sports event........if you hurry, you can catch them all shaking hands..
Kelly Hanson East wrote:When done, the wheels and tires went into the garbage. New rims/tires in this size are <30 USD, so there isnt much point in mounting/demounting tires and rims.
Ahh, sure, contributing to the "throw away society"!
kmclemore wrote:....This is particularly true of wheel studs, where failure can result in a very scary and dangerous situation.
I can attest to the fact that driving down a freeway and having one of your wheels pass you up can be a little unsettling. This happened to a friend's '68 Mustang while I was riding in the back on I-95 going to Norfolk for torpedo banding school in the Navy. It was a few days before the Rodney King Riots. The left rear wheel came off and passed us up. We were in the left lane and my friend put on his signal to move over to the right lane and then the side of the road. It was not fun or funny, despite the fact that I was laughing the whole time. When I inquired how such a thing could happen--three of five lugs had broken off, leaving two that had no nuts on them--he explained that he did not know, he had just had the wheels off before our trip and everything had looked fine. Uh huh, I see....
Our school sailing club acquired a Harpoon with a bad trailer last week, so I am picking it up in two trips, one for boat and one for trailer. I figured I had used up my luck with bad trailer wheels and bearings for a few years so I am playing it safe.....
That 250 USD Harbor freight flatbed (2000# rating) is worth is weight in gold ducats ....I just put two 4x4 by 8 footers and lashed boat to trailer
I will also put rollers on them to pull my Hobie with the same trailer - I wonder if I can make the rollers to fit both boats??
I dropped the Harpoon in the Hudson this past weekend - this trailer also had 1973 vintage tires which incredibly still held air but you could peel the rubber off the tires with your fingers....
Two new 4.8x8s were only 20 USD each at Harbor Freight, so I put them on, and marked them for replacement in the year 2016
The bearings on the trailer sound pretty gravelly, but the boat only weighs 500# or so, so they dont get warm.
I first brought the Island 17 back from buffalo to Albany (280 miles) in 1997 knowing about wheel bearings and all but pretty naive about trailers. It made the trip fine...one bearing was dry and both had rusty rollers in the race. Both wheels spun with the characteristic growling sound of bad bearings.
With a small 500 # boat you can get away with a lot wrt bearings on the trailer. With a 4000# Mac, I think a Dry bearing won't last more than 50 miles
it takes me about an hour to punch out the bearing races on the axles of a trailer with a lineup punch and hammer. Lately I've been ordering new hubs for my trailers (I now have 5 of them!!) and then rebuild the old hub in the winter, thus I'm always trailering with a spare hub ready to go. I also have the hammer and chisel needed to remove the innermost race on the axle stub too, of course. I have put a new hub onto the old bearing with lots of grease -again only on the light duty trailers with 500# loads
My local mechanic will push the bearings out for me for a beer too.. But when I do the job I can also show the girls wheel bearing. Caitlin loves the precise feel of how the wheel bearing parts fit together.
Just be aware, that speed of rotation is an important factor in bearing failure. Smaller trailers usually have smaller diameter tires and rotate much faster for a given road speed. They can burn up in a hurry.
